The subject matter of this application is related to the subject matter of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/954,189; 11/094,155; 11/094,156;10/667,787; 10/286,871; 10/621,513; 11/094,215; and 11/255,981.
The inventor's prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,440, U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,868, U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,958, U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,117, U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,053 disclose multiple function night lights including arrangements for incorporating conductive means and a time piece.
Another prior art U.S. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,233, discloses a light emitting diode (hereafter as LED) module that offers a lighting effect for a wall clock, While U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,710 by the same inventor as U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,233 discloses an illumination module back surface having reflective properties to allow light beams to reflect toward the interior of the module and out from the front surface (see, the Abstract, line 7 to line 9, and the detailed description stating that “The back side of reflectors 38, 48 or 78 could alternatively be engraved to provide multiple raised surfaces, such as points, bumps, protuberances, or the like. FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate surfaces 86 and 87, respectively, created by dot engraving techniques”). Such an illumination module is very expensive to make compared with the current invention. The current invention uses light medium having a rough surface surrounding the medium to cause all light beams to travel within the light medium. This rough-surface treatment has more diffusion effects than the prior structures having a reflective optics property. Furthermore, the prior art seeks to control light beams only “out of the front surface,” which is mission impossible. The current invention allows light to be emitted out to the viewer in all directions through the rough-surface of the light medium with the option of having some light beams blocked out by the housing so as to obtain desired light effects. The above-cited patents do not teach a milky/frosted front sheet to enable an illumination module to obtain the best light output. It is impossible to make a commercial items without this milky/frosted front sheet on top of the illumination module.
The inventor also has other prior U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,811,278, 6,601,964, 5,926,440, 6,158,868 directed to electro-luminescent lighting arrangements.
A first feature of the current invention involves a variety of arrangements of the light medium, including the light-medium being located between the front lens and timepiece movement, which optionally may incorporate a cosmetic dial face means or dial marking directly applied to the light-medium surface by silkscreen or a sticker using conventional market available skills. Alternatively, the light medium can be located on a part of the timepiece movement, such as a top cover of the movement, to provide a relatively slim device.
A second feature of the current invention involves adapting a very simple optic theory to the light medium for time piece illumination, which is similar to the optic theory used in notebook computer screens, which is in contrast to the “back surface with reflective property” arrangements illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15 (86) and (87), of the above-cited U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,233, which require a complicated optics lens. The current invention light medium simply uses a rough surface of the light medium to obtain a very even illumination on the whole unit surface.
The third feature of the current invention is to incorporate the rough-treatment light medium with a front milky or frosted sheet to provide perfect illuminating effect with super low cost while meeting all safety standards.
The fourth feature of the current invention incorporation of prong-means with an LED circuit and LED(s), which are sealed into a sealed-unit that meets the safety standard for V-0 grade under certain housing materials and thickness, so that other night light material can be used outside the sealed-unit, including any combination of paper, plastic, poly, chemical resins, pottery, porcelain, glass, mud, wood, bamboo, and/or metal for any other parts. Such an arrangement will still meet all safety standards because the other material(s) do not touch any hot wires.
The fifth feature of the current invention is that the timepiece movement has desired parts which may include LED(s), a light medium as part of the movement, an LED circuit, control means, and sensor means to enable the whole night light to have super slim dimensions. The size of the built-in light medium cover and movement of the lower housing can be variable depend on the different applications for final product size. For example, the light-medium top cover can be bigger or smaller or equal in size to the timepiece movement lower housing to let the final product look pretty.
The sixth feature of the current invention involves the night light device having multiple functions such as a night light function, color changing functions, multiple lit-areas, a plurality of receptacles, switch means, sensor means, as well as a time piece with either an analog display or LCD display, weather station display, project display, and/or liquid device for desired functions and light effects to meet market requirements.
The seventh feature of the current invention is that the movement can have its desired power source from a 10V to 250 Volt AC wall outlet having an appropriate frequency, or/battery power or solar power to supply the time piece operation. The power source for the movement and other functions can be same power source as the light or a different power source depend on market requirements.
The eighth feature of the current invention is that the light arrangement can be designed to have an analog arms cover. This will provide the whole dial face with very bright illumination to read the time message. This also is applicable to an LCD display unit by adding a back holder with light illumination.